Lackland basic training becomes family affair

By Mike Joseph :
January 27, 2012
: Updated: January 27, 2012 10:00pm

Airman Basic Justus Sanchez hugs his mother, Air Force basic trainee Lori Huayacla, following the Airman Coin and Retreat Ceremony Thursday at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. The ceremony symbolizes a service member’s transition from basic trainee to Airman. (U.S. Air Force photo by Alan Boedeker)

Like any parent attending Friday's Air Force basic training graduation at Lackland AFB, Lori Huayacla had to navigate through the crowd in search of her son.

But there was a difference for the 37-year-old mother of four from Portland, Ore. Huayacla was beginning a journey her eldest son, 19-year-old Justus Sanchez, had just completed: 8½ weeks of Air Force basic military training.

Huayacla, now in her second week, was given permission to attend Thursday's coin and retreat ceremony, when Air Force basic trainees are recognized as airmen; and Friday's graduation parade, when airmen affirm their oath of enlistment.

For Sanchez, the road to Lackland, where all Air Force enlisted basic training is held, started in July when he signed up for the Air National Guard. His mother decided to join in late September.

“This is so awesome,” said Huayacla, as she sat, in uniform, in a front-row seat at Friday's graduation parade. “Just seeing him is overwhelming, and at the same time, comforting and encouraging. He's an inspiration to me.”

The mother and son never thought they would see each other at basic training. Sanchez arrived on base in early December, and Huayacla found out several weeks later about her mid-January reporting date.

Two days after Huayacla arrived last week, they found out they were indeed both on base after briefly seeing each other Jan. 30 in a basic training dining facility. By coincidence, she had been assigned to a flight in the same training squadron as her son's.

“He asked me last week if his mother could come to graduation,” said Staff Sgt. Eddie Glover, one of Sanchez's military training instructors.

“I never suspected that mom was here at basic training until he asked for her unit mailing address. Boy, was I surprised.”

When Glover discovered that Huayacla was in basic training in the same squadron, he told Col. Glenn Palmer, the 737th Training Group commander in charge of basic training, of the unusual circumstance. With the commander's encouragement, plans were made for Huayacla to attend both the coin ceremony and the graduation parade.

“The (instructors) asked for special permission. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to go,” Palmer said. “I'm like, ‘Yes! She needs to go.' She should see her son become an airman.”

Huayacla was a bundle of nerves throughout Thursday's coin ceremony. Though she had seen her son twice before the event, they could only acknowledge each other from afar.

A week's worth of emotions finally came cascading down as mother and son embraced.

“It was very emotional for me because I hadn't seen him in so long,” Huayacla said. “It was hard not to go running over to him before.”

Friday's graduation was no different.

Thousands of family and friends rushed onto the parade grounds to congratulate the Air Force's newest members. Huayacla had to weave her way through the masses for yet another embrace she never expected.

“I wanted to show my kids that no matter how old you are, if you have a dream and put your mind to it, you can do it. Don't give up,” Huayacla said.